Heat Fall to the Celtics without James, Wizards Take on the Trail Blazers
On Wednesday, the Miami Heat (46-20) had to make do without LeBron James and lost to the Boston Celtics (23-46), 101-96. James’ absence came after he scored 43 points against the Cleveland Cavaliers (26-42) on Tuesday. He sat out for the following game due to back spasms.
In his place, Dwyane Wade gave it his best shot to be the team’s super star, contributing 17 points but between his second half 2 of 9 shooting and Chris Bosh’s 1 of 6 shots (six points for the game with 11 rebounds), the team’s 40 percent shooting couldn’t get a win. This followed the first half’s 56.5 percent success.
For the night, Chris Andersen added 16 while Ray Allen and Udonis Haslem contributed 14 points a piece.
Dwyane Wade
But this still couldn’t beat the Celtics, even after their 12-point first quarter deficit. Fortunately for Boston, their fared better after that with 60 percent shooting, outscoring the Heat, 48-37 in the second half after entering half time behind by six points (59-53).
The night belonged to veteran Rajon Rondo, who scored nine points with 15 assists and 10 rebounds. Avery Bradley led in scoring with his 23 points on a career-high night of six 3-pointers (nine attempts). Brandon Bass contributed 18 points.
The win snapped a five-game losing streak for Boston and they now sit 9 1/2 games behind the No. 8 Atlanta Hawks (31-35) in the Eastern Conference; they will seek another win when they play the Brooklyn Nets (35-31) on Friday.
As for the Heat, should fans and teammates be concerned about King James’ back? No.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of the problem via the Associated Press, “It was sore in the walkthrough today, but he was able to go through it so I didn’t really think much of it,” Spoelstra said. “Then it didn’t get much better by game time so it was a pretty easy decision.”
Miami sits in the Eastern Conference’s second spot and fortunately for them, the Indiana Pacers (50-18),who sit three games ahead of them, lost to the New York Knicks (28-40) on Wednesday, 92-86.
The Heat are 9/4 to win the 2014 NBA Championship.
In other Southeast Division action, the Washington Wizards (35-32) will play the Portland Trail Blazers (44-24) on Thursday.
Both teams have their eyes on the playoffs with the Wizards currently sitting in the Eastern Conference’s sixth spot while the Trail Blazers want home-court advantage for the first round in the Western Conference as they currently own the fifth spot, 1 1/2 games behind the fourth place Houston Rockets (45-22).
History is on the Wizard’s side as it has defeated Portland three consecutive times. A chance for a fourth victory could come as LaMarcus Aldridge may again be absent for the Trail Blazers. Without him on the floor, the team is 6-2 amid his 23.4 point and 11.1 rebound averages–career highs.
In their last game on Tuesday, Portland defeated the league’s lowly Milwaukee Bucks (13-55), 120-115 in overtime. Wesley Matthews scored 26 points, followed by Nicolas Batum’s 21 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists. Coming off the bench, Mo Williams added a season-high 23 points.
As for the Wizards, they didn’t fare as well in their Tuesday game, losing to the Sacramento Kings (24-44),117-111, in overtime. This came after giving up a 11-point advantage in the final quarter.
Marcin Gortat
Marcin Gortat, who scored 19 points with 14 rebounds, said of the loss via the Associated Press, “We were up five points (with 24 seconds left) and celebrating like we had already won the game. We loosened up way too much. We got punished for being too cocky. You’ve just got to play better in clutch time, and at the end of the day we get punished.”
John Wall added 14 points with five turnovers then fouled out of the game.
For the Wizards, they’ve won their last two games on Portland’s home court but there will not be a third straight win (-4.5, 206.5 o/u Portland victory).
